Saudi Arabia: Land of Female-Led Social Entrepreneurship?

Monday, December 12, 2016

When Saudi nonprofit leader Lujain Al Ubaid travels abroad, she often finds herself in the unenviable position of having to explain her culture. Saudi Arabia, the perception goes in the West, suppresses women, forcing them to wear headscarves and forbidding them the chance to get behind the wheel.  

While some stereotypes are rooted in reality, other tropes she encounters reveal the need for her voice, to show that cultural differences about their role in society aren’t always best portrayed through news reports and movie scripts.  

“It’s like going to an Indian lady and asking why is she wearing a sari all the time,” she told Global Atlanta about her black headscarf, which she left behind for the interview but donned for a public speech at Agnes Scott College

“I want people to understand that there are amazing women who choose to wear the scarf over their head or wear the black dress when they travel abroad, or even choose to over their face,” Ms. Al Ubaid said, just days after a Georgia legislator withdrew plans to introduce updates to an anti-masking law widely viewed as targeting Muslim women.

Source: Global Atlanta (link opens in a new window)

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